Several days ago we reported on how Chinese authorities had apparently suspended GPS jamming and spoofing in the port of Shanghai so that an amazing New Year's Eve drone show with 2,000 flying in close formation could proceed. Video of the show was shown on China TV...

Blog Editor's Note: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an interesting organization. For one, it is an independent government agency. That means that it is not part of the executive branch. So, while it considers input from the executive branch, it is not...

Or maybe not. Shanghai's New Year's New Year's celebration was particularly spectacular this year and included a show using 2,000 drones. Lighted drones formed variety of images including colored shapes, a man running across the sky, and numbers counting down the...

Blog Editor's Note: Another outstanding article below by Dee Ann Divis. A couple thoughts: We are intrigued to see that the Department of Defense continues to grapple with its size, aspire to greater agility and creativity, and to look west to Silicon Valley. A...

Several members sent us this link to a new 9 minute video on how to spoof GPS receivers: The video is sponsored by a number of big companies including AWS (ironically), so you have to watch at least part of one of the ads. Then the video explains the equipment you...

The Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador is "the largest pipe organ you've ever come across." Credit: Silvia Vallejo Vargas/Insituto Geofisico, Escuela Politecnica Nacional (Quito, Ecuador)   Blog Editor's Note: A interesting general interest article about some of the...

Image: Lucasfilm & 20th Century Fox/ Wikipedia Spoiler Alert: This post reveals a sub-theme in the most recent Star Wars film. If you don't want to know anything at all about the movie, you should not have even read our headline. You should certainly not read...

Image: Shutterstock Blog Editor's Note: Another example of how GNSS has connected so many incredibly disparate things in unexpected ways.  Start with swine flu.  Add greed, the price of pork, extortion, drones, GPS vulnerability, and counter-drones. You get...

Blog Editor's Note: A good overview article based on a conversation with Dr. Brad Parkinson. Of special interest are comments near the end about drones and their use of GPS. Such vulnerable signals in unmanned systems, especially drones, poses serious questions about...

Blog Editor's Note: This item is an expansion with commentary on the news we posted yesterday.  The author is President of the RNT Foundation. Chinese GPS spoofing circles could hide Iran oil shipments Est. reading time: 2 minutes December 17, 2019 By Dana Goward “GPS...

Blog Editor's Note: "Crop circle spoofing" was reported in the literature at Shanghai several weeks ago. Researchers have discovered similar activity at 20 locations along the Chinese coast, 16 of which are oil terminals. There seems to be a correlation between the...

A public memorial service for Professor David Last will take place at the Pritchard Jones Hall, College Rd, Bangor LL57 2AP at 13:00 on 23rd January 2020. Full details will be posted later here https://www.johnhughesandson.co.uk/en/obituary In Lieu of flowers the...

Blog Editor's Note: This article is a good overview of spoofing and its potential impacts. The interviewer asks a very good question about incentives for spoofing GPS. While the article provides a general answer, it would be interesting to sit down someday with a...

Time and navigation are inextricably intertwined. In fact, precise time is essential to most modern navigation and positioning systems. A number of our readers and members focus almost exclusively on the "T" in "PNT". So we thought we would pass along the below note...

Blog Editor's Note: A great "year in review" post by Guy Buesnel, on the Linkedin. Guy is a member of RNTF's International Advisory Committee and leads the GNSS Vulnerabilities group on Linkedin.  Grounded flights, lost drones and ‘crop circles’: the year in GNSS...

Blog Editor's Note: Two important perspectives from well-regarded PNT community figures. It is interesting to note that the question posed was: "What is or would be the best POLICY response from Congress and/or executive branch agencies to the growing threats to GPS...

Blog Editor's Note: Another great job of reporting by Dee Ann Divis. The letter referenced in the article is available on the FCC site here.  Several interesting things to note about this: As mentioned by parties on both sides of the issue, it took an exceptionally...

Image credit: RNT Foundation - Without good leadership and direction it is hard to get anywhere.   Blog Editor's Note: Full disclosure and as mentioned at the end of the piece, the author is President of the RNT Foundation, US falling behind protecting GPS/GNSS,...

Image: US DOT, National PNT Architecture Study, 2008 Blog Editor's Note: The author of the below is president of the RNT Foundation. US efforts pointing to coherent, resilient PNT architecture December 2, 2019  - By Dana Goward DoT remarks follow China announcement on...

The cover story for CBS Sunday Morning on December 1st was "Preparing the next generation of GPS."  RNTF President Dana A. Goward is interviewed on this piece. CLICK HERE TO WATCH NOW   Rendering of a GPS III satellite in orbit.  LOCKHEED MARTIN Guest host: Lee...

Graphic: Harry Campbell Blog Editor's Note: RNTF provided several interviews for this article. It provides a good overview of jamming, spoofing, and the fact that Russia, China and others have terrestrial Loran PNT systems, while the US does not.  It is another...

Blog Editor's Note: A wonderful and warm article about a great man and valued friend. Kudos to Dee Ann for her marvelous research and writing.  And appropriate for Thanksgiving Day. All of us who were privileged to know David will have that at the top of our list of...

Just before 13:00 GMT yesterday a private plane piloted by former President of the Royal Institute of Navigation, Professor David Last, disappeared from radar and impacted the sea approximately two miles off the coast of Wales. On-going search and rescue efforts have...

The Air Force seems to be on track to experiment with PNT satellites in geostationary orbit. The idea for Navigation Technology Satellite 3 (NTS-3) has been around for a while and notionally scheduled for launch in 2023. Recently the Air Force announced it would be...

Blog Editor's Note: Several reports on this in the media. For those interested in this issue, we recommend all three articles as each provides some information not available in the others. Several interesting things to note overall. A pending financial deal in the UK...

Blog Editor's Note: Solar weather is the primary reason loss of GNSS appears of the UK risk register. The risk register, in turn, was the impetus for two UK government studies on the impacts of losing GNSS for 5 days (not good at all). As we have mentioned before,...

In order to understand China's military approach to space, look to the ancient board game of Go says the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. (Brian Murphy/Defense Intelligence Agency)   Blog Editor's Note: A good article that provides some context for the...

Blog Editor's Note: A fascinating article about the newest phase in the spoofing wars. No wonder China is focusing on "comprehensive PNT" vice just relying on satellites! Smart Cities Ghost ships, crop circles, and soft gold: A GPS mystery in Shanghai A sophisticated...

Blog Editor's Note - The author of the below is the President of the RNT Foundation. China leads world with plan for ‘comprehensive’ PNT November 15, 2019  - By Dana Goward Speaking at the annual Stanford Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Symposium, a Chinese...

Blog Editor's Note: Recent press reports about the FCC preparing to act on the Ligado proposal caused us to start thinking about this again. The result was us filing this letter to the docket.   14 November 2019 Re: Ex parte presentation in IB Docket Nos. 11-109...

Graphic showing Galileo's failure. Pic: Bert Hubert. Blog Editor's Note: An interesting summary/compilation about this summer's Galileo failure. Interesting how the human factor is still so dominant in many of these kinds of mishaps. In aviation we call pilots the...

[Diana Furchtgott-Roth, DOT deputy assistant secretary for research and technology, speaks to the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee (CGSIC) meeting in Miami. Photo: Dee Ann Divis] Blog Editor's Note: Another step in the process of the U.S. acquiring the backup for...

Graphic: Getty Images Blog Editor's Note: While not a lot in the below is "newsworthy" for many of our readers, it's a good compilation. It is also encouraging for all of us to see this issue being framed and presented for a general audience. An audience that, for the...

Pierre Delsaux speaks at an EU breakfast on space policy . (Photo: European Union) Blog Editor's Note: The author of the below article is the President of the RNT Foundation. “Unacceptable! Never again!”: EC Deputy on Galileo outage November 5, 2019  - By Dana Goward...

Blog Editor's Note: The recent action at ICAO's Assembly declaring GNSS disruption an urgent issue has increased focus on the issue within the aviation community.  One note about the below - The author says that the best form of protection from spoofing is with...

[Photo: Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Brendan Carr and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.  Courtesy FCC.]   Blog Editor's Note: Another exceptional job of reporting by Dee Ann Divis. We have heard...

RNTF Report On the 18th we alerted our readers to the pending announcement of a European Commission procurement of  "an advanced interference detection and robustness capabilities system." That announcement was made last week. Information is available on the EU site...

Blog Editor's Note: The author is the President of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. US Army partners with UT Austin, Texas A&M System for advanced PNT October 30, 2019  - By Dana Goward   This month, the University of Texas at Austin became a...

Blog Editor's Note: The below is a good compilation of incidents reported by many sources on this topic. We offer it as a refresher and an example of the increasing and broadening awareness of GPS/GNSS vulnerabilities and how they are regularly being exploited by...

Photo Credit: Rebecca Zia Blog Editor's Note: The author of this article is the President of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. Parkinson questions long delay resolving Ligado issue October 22, 2019  - By Dana Goward Tells Space Advisory group spectrum...

Blog Editor's Note: We have seen a number of items in the press recently about the US Army's efforts with resilient and APNT. They have made a big deal about the first installations of MAPS. They are also the Department of Defense executive agent for development of...

The Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach, already great destinations, will host three days of PNT events next month. ... 09:00 - 18:00: Kennedy Space Center Tours and Visitor Complex It's the Greatest Space Adventure on Earth! Whether your visit includes training like...

Blog Editor's Note: The author is the president of the RNT Foundation. EU contracting for GNSS interference detection network October 17, 2019  - By Dana Goward Request for proposals to be issued The Official Journal of the European Union (EU) will publish a funding...

So, you thought you had survived the once-every-twenty-years GPS rollover event just because nothing bad happened on the 6th of April. You thought you were safe for the next 157 years because the GPS date counter will be increased to 13 bits. Not. So. Fast. It seems...

Sir George Airy established a meridian at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1851 to serve as a common reference for astronomical observations and navigation. By 1884 two thirds of ships were using it as a reference on their charts. US President Chester A. Arthur...

Blog Editor's Note: The author is the President of the RNT Foundation UN Aviation Body: GPS/GNSS Disruption an Urgent Safety Priority October 10, 2019  Dana A. Goward Last week the triennial assembly of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization...

Blog Editor's Note: The 1859 "Carrington Event" coronal mass ejection was so powerful it induced currents in telegraph wires strong enough to set telegraph offices on fire. A smaller event in 1921 "the NY Railway solar flare" did the same thing to a railway office in...

Image: Moon Over Miami, During 2019 ION GNSS+, D.A. Goward   The recent meeting of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee in Miami included a number of interesting presentations. One by MITRE's Dr. Arthur Scholz working for the Homeland Security System...

Blog Editor's Note: "Politico" is a well known and respected site for information about US national politics. This is the first we became aware of their weekly newsletter focusing on space issues.  We signed up to receive it when it is published every Friday. The...

Blog Editor's Note: RNT Foundation obtained this strategy document from a Freedom of Information Act request we made earlier this year. To the best or our knowledge and as of this writing, it is not posted on any website other than ours. Links to it are in the text of...